As an ex-west londoner I was very much looking forward to the Southall Story exhibit in the Spirit Level of the Southbank Centre – an exhibition exploring the last 30 years of life in Southall. I remembered fondly my time living in Ealing, the sundays spent walking around the many stalls of “little India” looking for the perfect Samosa and Chaat and being tempted by the glitz and glamour singing out from every shop front – and of course the DVD’s! If you want a good Bollywood DVD then Southall is the place to go. Southall Story brought all these memories careering back to me.
As you enter the exhibit you are faced with a representation of the Himalaya Palace Cinema known for it’s regular screenings of Bollywood blockbusters. I recall walking past the tiled front with it’s chinese style roof, looking like it had been transported from an American 80′s film set of china town, with groups of young asian boys outside chilling by the bus stop.
Shakil Maan a filmmaker and one of the Creative Directors of Southhall Story involved in the creation of this exhibit chatted to me about the importance of the Bollywood industry on Southall and the way in which the industry has tended to lean towards and imitate the styles of the west (be it in a very unique way) some of Shakil’s more experimental work is on show in the exhibition, I was transfixed as I watched a dishevlled indian woman standing motionless on a busy street as passers-by look her up and down whilst an internal monologue plays.
Shakil is also a member of the Southall Black Sisters a group set-up to meet the needs of black women that started life in Southall and to my surprise led the first march against domestic violence! The History and work of the Southall Black sisters is brilliantly exhibited through a selection of video installations and a striking piece of art work down one end of the space – to see it you’ll have to go 
Other highlights of the exhibition include recreations of the stalls you can expect to find in Southall and insights into the homes of the area during the 70′s. Artistic Director Kuljit Bhamra admits to a to a group of us being shown around the exhibition that the recreations are based on his mum’s frontroom and his bedroom as a child!
The Exhibition is definitely one to visit not only for it’s quirky exhibits of Bollywood DVD selling stalls and a photographic journey through Southalls past but also for the surprising snippets of facts that show the unknow side of Southall – the side that has affected British Law and inspired Bollywood stars.
Whilst talking to Ammy Phull the third of the trio that make up Southall Story I was reminded by him of the hidden stories that all our homes contain and the importance of remembering those stories.
Joseph Coelho
For more info please follow the links below…
http://thesouthallstory.wordpress.com/beginnings/
http://www.thesouthallstory.com/
http://www.southallblacksisters.org.uk/
Filed under: Alchemy 2010 Tagged: | Joseph Coelho, Poetryjoe
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